Love for the military

Here in china it seems like the military is heavily embedded in the culture. Everywhere you look you can find some sort of militaristic reference.

I've noticed many older male civilians like to sport the jungle camouflage-coloured pants and tops (very stylish). It's not uncommon to see small shops devoted to selling military type equipment and clothing. I'm sure the chinese government don't expect their soldiers to BYO gear, so surely this must be for those civillians who want that military feeling.

At one of the tourist attractions, The big wild goose pagoda, theres some 'regiment' of women who stand and parade around the grounds. They've got an information stand, but i still can't figure out what their role is! Maybe giving tours? The sight of these girls marching around is so bizarre since most of them are quite y0ung and attractive. it's like a regiment of marching models. (see below for video)
But then it's not just here you see this sort of military like drilling. At the start and end of work shifts you can see staff from some restaurants and hotels line up outside their establishments in military like fashion to receive a sort of debriefing or review. On occasion i've even heard warcries and shouting. One morning i stumbled accross some office where all the female staff where out the front doing some sort of techno dance routine? (see below for video)Nothing like a bit of techno dancing to encourage team morale....

And then on tv later in the night i've seen a military news report, complete with news presenter dressed in uniform! I've seen another show that followed the progress of a couple of soldiers through some sort of endurance/kung fu course. Reminded me of a gameshow.

At most of the variety shows or commemorative concerts you'll usually see the front few rows filled with members of the military. But the most bizarre thing i've seen is the chinese version of Idol. The format of the show is not the same as idol, and the weirdest thing is they've got members from the military as judges! what the?! What possible qualifications does somone from the military have to make them suitable to pick china's next pop sensation?! and i thought letting
Ugly Phil judge on australian idol was bad.
I know most navies and armies in the world have a military band, but unless china's military has a 'pop idol' division then i'm afraid the qualifications fall short!

A local friend later explained to me though that china's military has a division devoted to the entertainment industry. i'm not sure if i understood this right, since my friend may have translated wrong. if she did translate right, it's very bizarre. when i think of the military i think of war, not music. I wouldn't like it if the federal taxes i'm paying is going towards making music. That might explain though why one of the contestants on the show was dressed in uniform, and why there were so many members from the military in the audience!



Marching regiment of models
Team morale dance

Military karaoke video!